All religions have creation stories that explain the origins
of evil and suffering. The Judeo-Christian story is distinctive at its outset,
when God nonviolently creates order from disorder. In many other religious myth,
the disorder is personified by monsters who are killed by gods. For exampleÖ.

The Biblical creation is also distinctive in that it
recognizes the importance of mimetic rivalry. Adam, Eve, and all creatures
initially lived together peacefully. There was no violence or death in the
Garden. However, the snake tempted Eve, awakening desires that threaten the
blissful harmony among all of the Gardenís inhabitants.

Adam regarded Eve and mimetically desired the fruit. Adam and
Eve were created in Godís image, and Godís love and care should have been their
model. They should have striven to be like God in benevolent ďdominionĒ over
Eden. Instead, they looked to each other as models of desire. Eve craved the
forbidden fruit because the snake encouraged her, and Adam wanted a taste
because he saw Eveís evident pleasure. Evidently, we humans seem attracted to
physical models, and perhaps the only way that God could encourage us to model
God would be for God to come to earth in human form. But, Iím getting ahead of
the story.

When caught by God, Adam blamed (scapegoated) Eve and then Eve
blamed (scapegoated) the snake. The problem is that Adam and Eve were not
modeling their behavior upon God and Godís will. Rather, they had become rivals
with God for leadership in Eden, making it impossible to live in peace and
harmony under Godís benevolent directorship.

Adam and Eve were banned from Eden, and I see the ensuing
consequences as descriptive, not proscriptive. In other words, what happened to
Adam and Eve describes what happens when people refuse Godís love and instead
crave Godís power. No longer supplied by God, Adam was forced to struggle to
obtain food, clothing, and shelter. Physically weaker than Adam, Eve had to
accept a subservient role to the man in the family. In the unharmonious, violent
world outside Eden, social order (maintained by taboos) was needed to avoid
divisive mimetic rivalry, but these taboos would undermine true love and
compassion. Similarly, relationships with animals were broken. The Bible relates
that humans would kick the head of the snake while the snake would bite the
humansí heal. This is the tragic, fallen world in which we live, a world that
can only be redeemed and reclaim peace by the grace of God.

One question that many theologians have pondered is why the
tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden. Today, we generally regard
knowledge as desirable, and understanding good and evil is perhaps the most
important knowledge of all. From a Girardian perspective (but not the only
possible Girardian viewpoint), I offer an explanation. In the Garden of Eden,
there was no violence because there were no rivalries. Everyone had everything
they needed, and there was no scarcity that could lead to bitter disputes. What
did Adam and Eve learn when they ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil?
Insofar as they desired to know good, they became rivals with God for leadership
in Eden. In learning about evil, they learned about scarcity. Previously, they
had no desires because they had no sense that what they wanted might not be
available. Now, they desired things that they feared might become scarce. So,
knowledge of evil would encourage them to want to have moreómore than they
really needed in order to thrive. If there were no real scarcity before,
hoarding would certainly create scarcity. With scarcity, people would
struggleósome to hoard more objects and some to merely surviveóand conflicts
would arise. The only way to restore peace would be to exile/murder a scapegoat.
Such a world of violence would not be a Garden of Eden. Their knowledge of evil
made it impossible for them to live in a truly harmonious world.

Rev. Paul Neuchterlein sums it up well: ďGodís loving desire
for the whole creation is the only desire that can save us from lives of
suffering the consequences of our violence. Choosing our fellow creatures as
models of desire leads to a perpetual fall from paradise.Ē

Next week, we will explore the first murder and how this story
differs from the myths of other religions.